, 1887-03-08

etc.; and l added that the next day l was
going to New York and would be at the
Brevoort house, and that If he had time l
would he glad to see him there before he
JAILED. Both letters were mailed that
night.
Ny husband came home, and said the
express Office was shut up, and that ended
hat question.
The next day when l reached the Bre-
WORT | found a note from Mr.. Haven.
Unfortunately, l destroyed it that even
ing when | answered it, for the note then
seemed to be Of no consequence, and so L
can give the substance only. 1t said that
Mr.. Haven was very sorry to learn from a
letter that he had just received from his
friend in Hartland that 1 had never re-
ceived the bundle; hat it had been sent
from the Office of the Hotel Brunswick,
and that he himself had handed the pack
age to the clerk. He also stated that the
clerk to whom he had given the package
had left the hotel, but the one in charge
had assured him that no package Of any
kind was ever sent by them to any express
company without u receipt being taken,
and that he would look it up. Mr..
Haven added that he regretted that
some important business matters pre-
vented his either looking up the matter
himself, or calling to see me at the
Brevoort house, rs he was to sail early
the ncx day. He advised me, as | was
then ON the spot, to go to the headquarters
of the Adams Express company in New
York and state the case, and as 1 already
had an accurat description of the bundle
it would certainly be found in q short
time. And that was the sum and sub
stance of it.
The next afternoon l was going down
to Staten Island to n reception, and as |
hn1 l.ttt tuyn mr. thron l.,, ~ k@,. .-1
was extremely busy, and knew that it
would be so far down town unless l went
on purpose, / took a carriage to the ferry,
and on the way down stopped at the
Adams Express company.
l stated to the first man, who stood
near the doorway and who seemed to be-
long to the place, that I had come to find
a missing bundle, and asked of whom |
should inquire. He waived me aside with
a quite magnificent gesture and said:
You'd better ask one of the clerks"
l felt crushed, but tried not to look so,
and l went still deeper into the gloom md
dust, seeing in the far distance two west
ern windows that seemed to catch some
dim radiance from some source far above.
/ went on, and presently a young man
met me, who appeared to look astonished,
but he was very polite. l said, 81 came
to inquire about a missing bundle" and
began my story. He said in the middle
Of my first sentence:
"Win you kindly come this way to the
Officer
So | followed him.
When l first entered the doors 1 couldn't
see q man, but suddenly they seemed to
grow up everywhere. Every huge box
seemed to have n head behind it, and they
all had eyes, and they were all looking at
me. 1 felt very awkward and out ofplace,
and for the time being / wish l never had
been born.
At last we reached a small glass inclosed
space, when my guide opened q pew kind
of q door, and said, "a lady about q lost
bundle, " and I found myself standing be-
fore a man that terrified me so-and L am
not a timid woman-that l haven't an
idea what he looked like, except that he
seemed inoffensive in every way. He
offered me a chair, and 1 sat down and
tried to make myself believe that this
man was not really the whole Adams Ex-
press company; for this was the reason he
seemed so terrifying. After a while l
wus able to tell him pretty clearly about
my lost bundle.
l accurately described its appearance
and size, and all / knew about it, and
also all / did not know about its contents.
He listened very politely, and then he gave
me a blow hat seemed to be entirely out
of rule. HE said:
Have you inquired for it at the Office
of the Hotel Brunswick"
MOO" l said doubtfully, "but l sup
pose Mr.. Haven did"
"Ah, yes" he said. "Wel, have you
been to the Twenty-third street office, 1t
would naturally have gone there"
NO." 1 said, II haven't inquired any
where but here. Mr.. Haven told me to
come here"
"Welr'
Gle didn't say much more; neither did
l. He took my name n address, and
then he opened the door for me, and said
he would do all in his power to have the
bundle found, and that l should hear from
him. And as l walked out it didn't seem
to me that 1 had done much about finding
my bundle by inquiring at headquarters.
The G day l went to the Hotel
Brunswick, and a clerk came up into the
parlor INT saw me.
BY that time | was rather tired of telling
my story, and so / went over it as rapidly as
possible. The clerk listened as politely as
the august representative Of the express
company had done, and when 1 had finished
he assured me that the matter should at
once be attended to, and that the bundle
would certainly be found Gin the near
future" 1 was very much impressed by
that phrase, as he probably meant L should
be. He said;
SIT stands to reason that it must be
found. We never send away a bundle
without taking n receipt"
So saying be politely ended, and 1 goi
myself out on the sidewalk, and felt al
first pretty sure Of my bundle, but OF
| second thought / felt somewhat doubtful
, They.all assured me it would be found,
and yet-well, / began to feel very doubt
/ full.
The next day 1 went home. l waited 6
month for an answer to my letter to my
, sister. But when 1 did receive a letter
: from her it was not an answer to mine
l which had evidently not reached her, rs
she only spoke of the receipt of a letter Of
: a date some two weeks previous.
To make n long story short, l may say
I hat / never got an answer to my letter tC
: my sister. She was travelling about, ant
l her letters were short, and only full Of
daily experiences. But it seemed exceed
ingly strange to me that she made no al
D fusion at all to the letter about the bun
r die. In each of my letters to her l spok'
of my letter and asked her to tell mi
about It; what was in it' was she sure Of
I her address, etc.
' Finally, feeling sure that that particu
lar and most important letter had beer
lost. I wrote n duplicate of IL. as nearly n,